T

here is a strange passage 
in the life of Isaac, omi-
nous in its foreshadowing 
of Jewish history. Like Abraham, 
Isaac finds himself forced by 
famine to go to Gerar, in the 
land of the Philistines. There, 
like Abraham, he senses that his 
life may be in 
danger because 
he is married to a 
beautiful woman. 
He fears that he 
will be killed so 
that Rebecca can 
be taken into the 
harem of King 
Avimelech. The couple pass 
themselves off as brother and sis-
ter. The deception is discovered, 
Avimelech is indignant, explana-
tions are made, and the moment 
passes. Genesis 26 reads almost 
like a replay of Genesis 20, a gen-
eration later.
In both cases, Avimelech 
promises the patriarchs’ security. 
To Abraham, he said, “My land 
is before you; live wherever you 
like” (Gen. 20:15). About Isaac, he 
commands, “
Anyone who molests 
this man or his wife shall surely 
be put to death” (Gen. 26:11). Yet 

in both cases, there is a troubled 
aftermath. In Genesis 21 we read 
about an argument that arose 
over a well that Abraham had 
dug: “Then Abraham complained 
to Avimelech about a well of 
water that Avimelech’s servants 
had seized” (Gen. 21:25). The 
two men make a treaty. Yet, as 
we now discover, this was not 
sufficient to prevent further diffi-
culties in the days of Isaac: Isaac 
planted crops in that land and the 
same year reaped a hundredfold 
because the Lord blessed him. 
The man became rich, and his 
wealth continued to grow until 
he became very wealthy. 
He had so many flocks and 
herds and servants that the 
Philistines envied him. So all the 
wells that his father’s servants 
had dug in the time of his father 
Abraham, the Philistines stopped 
up, filling them with earth.
Then Avimelech said to Isaac, 
“Move away from us; you have 
become too powerful for us.
”
So, Isaac moved away from 
there and encamped in the Valley 
of Gerar and settled there. Isaac 
reopened the wells that had been 
dug in the time of his father 

Abraham, which the Philistines 
had stopped up after Abraham 
died, and he gave them the same 
names his father had given them.
“Isaac’s servants dug in the val-
ley and discovered a well of fresh 
water there. But the herdsmen 
of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s 
herdsmen and said, ‘The water is 
ours!’ So he named the well Esek, 
because they disputed with him. 
Then they dug another well, but 
they quarreled over that one also; 
so he named it Sitnah. He moved 
on from there and dug another 
well, and no one quarreled over 
it. He named it Rechovot, saying, 
‘Now the Lord has given us room 
and we will flourish in the land.
’” 
Gen. 26:12–22
 
THE BIRTH OF 
ANTISEMITISM
There are three aspects of this 
passage worthy of careful atten-
tion. The first is the intimation it 
gives us of what will later be the 
turning point of the fate of the 
Israelites in Egypt. Avimelech 
says, “You have become too 
powerful for us.
” Centuries later, 
Pharaoh says, at the beginning 
of the book of Exodus, “Behold, 

the people of the children of 
Israel are greater in number 
and power than we are. Come on, 
let us deal wisely with them, lest 
they multiply and it come to pass, 
when there befall any war, that 
they join also with our enemies 
and fight against us, and so get 
them up out of the land” (Ex. 
1:9–10). 
The same word, atzum, “power/
powerful,
” appears in both. Our 
passage signals the birth of one of 
the deadliest of human phenom-
ena, antisemitism.
Antisemitism is in some 
respects unique. It is, in Robert 
Wistrich’s phrase, the world’s 
longest hatred. No other preju-
dice has lasted so long, mutated 
so persistently, attracted such 
demonic myths or had such 
devastating effects. But in other 
respects, it is not unique, and we 
must try to understand it as best 
we can.
One of the best books about 
antisemitism is, in fact, not about 
antisemitism at all, but about 
similar phenomena in other 
contexts, Amy Chua’s World on 
Fire. Her thesis is that any con-
spicuously successful minority 
will attract envy that may deepen 
into hate and provoke violence. 
All three conditions are essential. 
The hated group must be conspic-
uous, for otherwise it would not 
be singled out. It must be success-
ful for otherwise it would not be 
envied. And it must be a minority, 
for otherwise it would not be 
attacked.
All three conditions were 
present in the case of Isaac. He 
was conspicuous: He was not a 
Philistine, he was different from 
the local population as an out-
sider, a stranger, someone with a 
different faith. He was successful: 
His crops had succeeded a hun-
dredfold, his flocks and herds 
were large, and the people envied 
him. And he was a minority: a 
single family in the midst of the 
local population. All the ingredi-
ents were present for the distilla-
tion of hostility and hate.

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

Persistence Amid 
Vast Antisemitism

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

46 | NOVEMBER 16 • 2023 
J
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